GMC wins last league game with rival CU, 68-64

CASTLETON — Green Mountain College’s 68-64 victory Saturday in North Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action was a game that meant nothing. And a game that meant everything.
GMC was already out in the cold in the NAC tournament, falling outside the six teams that make it to the event, and Castleton could not lose its No. 6 seed in the tourney.
Yet, it was a game between neighboring rivals playing a league game for the last time as both teams go into different conferences next season.
Green Mountain held a double-digit lead much of the time including a 33-23 halftime advantage.
The Eagles got their lead all the way up to 15 (43-28) when Duane Goodman buried a 3-pointer.
But the Spartans fought back. They used some inspired play by Jordan Nelson — steals he converted into points — and some 3-point shooting from Hazen Union graduate Denis LeCours. A trey by LeCours whittled the lead to 61-58 and his second 3 cut it to 64-63 with 3:10 remaining.
Nelson made a free throw that tied it but then Rutland High graduate Tyrell Johnson rang up the winning hoop, making a nice move in the lane and kissing the ball off the glass.
De Shauin Carr knocked down two free throws with 11.7 seconds to go to pad the lead to 68-64.
“Even though we didn’t have a playoff game to play for, we’ve still got some juice,” Johnson said.
The Eagles lost to Castleton 60-47, two weekends in ago in Poultney, but Johnson said his team was still confident heading into this one.
“We definitely thought we had a good shot,” Johnson said. “We missed a lot of shots over there.”
GMC coach Ben Davis was proud of his kids for playing hard despite being shut out of the six-team league playoffs.
“Things did not go the way we wanted, but this is a competitive bunch,” Davis said.
The Eagles got energy from a great start, taking a 6-0 lead on 3-pointers from Goodman. They quickly built the lead to 15-5.
Castleton travels to Colby-Sawyer on Tuesday for its NAC quarterfinal game. The Spartans lost two tough games to the Chargers during the season, 71-69 and 73-70.
But Culpo isn’t sure his players have any fire left to bring over to New London, N.H.
“I think the kids have quit. I think they want to just be students for the spring semester and not student/athletes,” Culpo said. “We don’t have any leaders. We are a rudderless team right now.
“We haven’t played hard since winning at Green Mountain two weeks ago. I don’t understand it.”
“We, as coaches, will do our best to get them prepared. Credit to our kids, they made the tournament. But from the way we have been playing the last two weeks, I don’t see how we can make any noise in the tournament.”
Goodman led Green Mountain with 21 points. He went 5 of 9 behind the 3-point line.
Johnson followed with 12 points. Johnson had a solid all-around game, adding six rebounds and a blocked shot while dishing out three assists and committing but one turnover during his 33 minutes.
“It’s tough to keep Tyrell off the floor. He plays so hard, even in practice,” Davis said.
Nelson led the Spartans (12-13, 9-9 in the NAC) with 16 points. He also had five rebounds and an outstanding assist-turnover ratio of six to one.
Tondi Mushandu followed with 12 points and Julian Santos added 10 off the bench.
The Eagles (8-16, 6-12 in the NAC) head for the NAIA and the new Northeastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference next year.
The Spartans will be off to the Little East Conference, but they have more immediate concerns — their NAC quarterfinal on Tuesday night.
Culpo hopes that what he feels has been an apathetic team the last four games, finds the switch and flips it on in New London.